May 10th @ 8 pm


Teijin Auditorium
Museumplein 10, 1071 DJ Amsterdam, Netherlands

During her stay in New York from 1968 to 1980, Maria Lassnig learned the technique of animation, setting her drawings into motion. From the 1970s onwards, she continued her preoccupation with self-portraiture and body-awareness in animation. Furthermore, Lassnig left an extensive body of footage that gives an insight into her multifaceted role as filmmaker. This film program aims to situate her work within the context of independent, feminist and experimental animation in the 1970s in New York.

The complex production of turning drawing, film footage and sound into animation and experimental film inspired a collective working method. In 1974 Lassnig founded the feminist avant-garde group Women/Artist/Filmmakers, Inc. with other female (film) artists, including Doris Chase, one of the pioneers of video and computer animation. Chase’s films capture dance to depict movement, something Lassnig too assesses in her animations. Lassnig's films were also prized in the independent animation film scene around the American filmmaker George Griffin. After receiving an award for her film Selfportrait (1971), she was recognized alongside contemporary women animators such as Suzan Pitt. She took up feminist and erotic subjects in her animated films, and also created narratives about these issues based on her own experiences in relationships. Her work is regarded as a compelling force for the recognition of the underground genre of animation in the fine arts.

This program is curated by Stefanie Proksch-Weilguni, PhD candidate at the University of Basel

PROGRAM

8 pm - INTRODUCTION by Stefanie Proksch-Weilguni (eikones – Center – for the Theory and History of the Image, Basel)

8.10 pm - PART 1: SELFPORTRAIT / SELBSTPORTRAIT 
Maria Lassnig, Selfportrait, 1971, 5 min 
Mary Beams, Tub film, 1972 1:46 min 
George Griffin, Head, 1975, 10:30 min 
Maria Lassnig, Stone Lifting. A Self Portrait in Progress, 1971-74, 7:04 min

8.30 pm - PART 2: COUPLES / PAARE 
Maria Lassnig, Couples, 1972, 10 min 
Lisa Crafts, Desire Pie, 1976, 5 min 
Suzan Pitt, Asparagus, 1979, 18 min 
Maria Lassnig, Encounter, 1970, 1 min

9.10 pm - PART 3: DANCING BODIES / TANZENDE KÖRPER 
Maria Lassnig, Shapes, 1972, 10 min 
George Griffin, Trikfilm 1, 1972, 1 min 
Doris Chase, Circles II, Version II, 1972, 8 min 
Maria Lassnig, Black Dancer, 1974, 1 min

9.30 pm - End of program